Washing machine won't drain

[Beefer]

Our washing machine won't drain. The clothes are sitting in lovely water. I tried to restart the cycle, but it just agitates, and doesn't drain. Don't know if it will spin. Any ideas?

 

[tswiczko]

Re: Washing machine won't drain

Siphon it out remove the clothes

turn it on it's side and check the coupling to the pump


The little ears break off

not expensive or hard to do

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Washing machine won't drain

from my limited experience

bad transmission

bad pump

sock stuck in system

your going to have to start pulling it apart or call someone.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Washing machine won't drain

What brand, model and year is your machine?

Have a model number?

I used to own laundromats so have experience on some machine models.

 

[Beefer]

Re: Washing machine won't drain

Well, there goes my weekend... lol. Thanks guys.

 

[Allbutwet]

Re: Washing machine won't drain

Front load or top load? I know that if I don't clean the lint trap out. On our GE front loader ever 6 mos. it does the same thing. Didn't even know it was there until the first incident; because there is no mention of it in the manual.

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Washing machine won't drain

Just went through this myself, the pump went bad, cost me about $50 and an hour of my wife's time to get it fixed!

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: Washing machine won't drain

Just went through this myself, the pump went bad, cost me about $50 and an hour of my wife's time to get it fixed!

My wife is a bit slower than your wife. But I bring her the beer so she's not wasting time.

 

[NoKlu]

Re: Washing machine won't drain

If your machine is a top loader DO NOT tip it over to drain or check the coupling. If you don't do it right you will dump all the tranny fluid out and burn that up as well. Could be just a plugged drain hose. I pulled a nickel out of my sisters top loader. It went through the pump and was acting like a butterfly valve. It would drain some loads and others it would not. In home washer tech quoted $500 for the repair. Can you hear the pump running or does the machine just sit there doing nothing and the cycle knob does not move? If it does nothing with no noise it is probably the timer. The timer is a clock that turns the agitator,the inlet valves and the pump off and on at the right time. It controls everything the washer does.The timer is in the dash board behind the cycle knob. You can get them rebuilt or get a new one. If the pump is humming there is probably an obstruction of some kind leading to or from the pump. If it's humming shut it off quickly or you will burn it out. Take the back off and take the lines off the pump and check to see if anything is plugged. An easy way to check for plugged lines is to lay the discharge hose down on the floor. It should drain through the pump with gravity alone. Thats how you drain the washer using a shallow pan to catch the water. Make sure you have lots of towels and or a wet vac as it can get messy. If you have a floor drain in the laundry room just let it drain to it. I'm betting on the timer. I'll check back later for answers to my questions.

 

[foodfisher]

Re: Washing machine won't drain

I got mine to work again by bypassing the switch that's activated by closing the lid. Stick a stick in the lid hole and see if that works. There's a video somewhere on this interweb that shows how to do the bypass.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Washing machine won't drain

Until one knows the brand/model of washer, its pretty much useless to do any diagnosis.

 

[Augoose]

Re: Washing machine won't drain

My wife started using the purell washing and drying in-one sheets a few years ago. One of the sheets made it through the water exit in the basin and got stuck in the water pump. Water wouldn' t drain so I pulled the pump and there it was. Like others said, might be a sock as well but I'm guessing something is stuck in the water pump.

 

[paultjohnson]

Re: Washing machine won't drain

Siphon it out remove the clothes

turn it on it's side and check the coupling to the pumpView attachment 130620


The little ears break off

not expensive or hard to do

On my Sears washer , the coupler in your pic went out. It just couples the motor to the transmission. It would still pump water, just wouldn't agitate or spin.. You could hear the motor running. Maybe it runs a pump on different brands, but not on my old Kenmore

 

[oops!]

Re: Washing machine won't drain

one of the most common reasons for a machine not pumping is the drain hose pinched off.

really check it....even what looks like a slight bend could be a major blockage.

we need to know what kind of machine....how old and if its a front or top loader.

one easy thing to check....is take a bucket.....and put the drain hose in it....once the drain hose goes below the water line....the water should flow out of the hole. if it does not......the pump is plugged

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Washing machine won't drain

one easy thing to check....is take a bucket.....and put the drain hose in it....once the drain hose goes below the water line....the water should flow out of the hole. if it does not......the pump is plugged

Won't happen...they have siphon breaks.

I have worked on many brands of washers and they are all a little different. For example, on Maytags, there is a seperate belt that drives the water pump and the motor spins backwards while in spin mode Others have different methods. We need to know make/model.

 

[Beefer]

Re: Washing machine won't drain

It's an older KitchenAid, top load. While I was at work, I was checking craigslist, and found a Maytag Atlantis set (w&d) for $75. The seller had just bought the house, and this set came with it. I picked it up (for $75 I figured it was easier and possibly cheaper then fixing or having it fixed). 'New' washing machine seems to work just fine. Haven't hooked up the dryer yet, so we'll see tomorrow about that.

oops! was right about the siphoning. When I moved the old machine out of the way, the drain line fell onto the floor, and water started spewing out. I hooked the drain line onto a bucket, and it drained out i about 2 minutes.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Washing machine won't drain

oops! was right about the siphoning. When I moved the old machine out of the way, the drain line fell onto the floor, and water started spewing out. I hooked the drain line onto a bucket, and it drained out i about 2 minutes.

Very interesting. With all the machines in my laundromats, that was impossible. I would just pull the drain hose at the bottom of the machine but I had floor drains under the washers so no big deal.

As far as the Maytag Atlantis, the main problem with them is the sliding track that the motor sits on. if you ever have problems with belts slipping lube the track so the motor slides easier. I was the not so lonely Maytag repairman but the Maytags still were the least problem machines. I would always replace my machines in my laundromats with Maytags.

 

[oops!]

Re: Washing machine won't drain

the kitchen aid he had was a whirlpool direct drive.

as far ad the tub draining from dropping the drain hose......most home models will do this....

ge....which is several hundreds of models....like mcleary viking moffat ect...ect...ect...ect

the whilrpool direct drives, are also sold under the name of kenmore, kitchen aid and a few others.

both the whirlpool and the ge will drain via this method.....unless the pump is clogged.or there is a sock. in the tub drain.

the machines them selves are very simple...most work by turning the motor backward for drain...

by the way.....most of the the commercial models are no different than the home product, except the timer is run off a coin op rather than the standard dial clock timers.
the commercial places liked the maytag and the old speed queen washers. they used different systems...but for the most part...they are still simple systems. containing a tub, a basket....transmission, pump and a timer